Chapter 84: Truce

POV: Carly

Alcohol and Carly McPherson had never been a reliable combination. She barely drank when she went out with friends, and the one beer she'd had at the festival with Niko was about the extent of her recent track record. Being a lightweight didn't help. Sophomore year she had exceeded her limit exactly once and spent the night throwing up everything she'd ever eaten, swearing afterward she would never touch another drop.

She was not usually the reckless, curious, rebellious type. Tonight, apparently, was the exception.

Two rounds of beer pong with Katy against the boys later, her body felt loose and her thoughts had gone soft around the edges in a way that was, against all logic, kind of wonderful. For the first time in longer than she could remember, she wasn't thinking about a single responsibility.

She couldn't pretend Aurora hadn't sparked some of this bravado. The more time Niko spent talking to her tonight, the harder it became to convince herself the redhead wasn't a threat. Carly didn't want to nag him about it while he was with his friends. She just didn't want Aurora near him at all, which she was fully aware made her sound exactly like the kind of girlfriend she had never wanted to be.

Too petty?

In an effort to think about literally anything else, Carly grabbed Katy's hands and spun them both in a loose, sloppy circle, screaming the lyrics to a song neither of them were singing correctly, grinning like the world was ending and they had front row seats.

"And here I thought you were no fun."

The voice stopped her mid-spin.

Carly turned, smile dropping the second she registered the smirk waiting for her.

"I guess I underestimated you." Aurora said, taking a slow sip from her cup.

Carly swallowed hard. Katy stumbled into the conversation a half-second later, planting herself directly in front of Aurora like she'd been summoned.

"Mm, yeah, you've been doing that a lot lately." Katy slurred. "What business do you want with my friend here?"

Aurora raised both hands, the picture of innocence. "I come in peace, I swear. I know I've been a complete cow to you lately, Carly, and I want to fix that. I'm woman enough to admit when I'm wrong. So, how about we start over?"

Carly nearly choked on her drink. "What?"

"I know, shocking." Aurora said. "But it's our last semester, and I see no point making new enemies. Besides, I expect I'll be seeing a lot more of you now, thanks to Nik. So we might as well get along."

Carly blinked at her, too tipsy to fully process whether this was sincere or the beginning of some elaborate trap.

Katy scoffed. "Please. More like keep your friends close and your enemies closer."

Aurora turned to her, unbothered. "What, are you her mouthpiece now?"

"On occasion." Katy shrugged. "Mostly I'm just better at sniffing out a conniving bitch."

Aurora laughed, sharp and delighted. "Takes one to know one, I suppose. Seems like you've had one too many, Katerina. You should pace yourself."

The change in Katy was immediate. All the color drained out of her face, her shoulders going rigid, every ounce of her earlier confidence collapsing in real time.

Carly watched it happen, stunned. She remembered how Katy had reacted the first time Niko used that name. The reason behind it had never come up, and now here it was again — her boyfriend and her best friend both, somehow, with the exact same reaction to the exact same word.

Then Katy's eyes shifted. Amber, wild, the same shade Carly had seen flash across Niko's face when he lost his temper. She had never seen Katy lose control like this, and she had no idea whether it meant Katy was about to stare Aurora into oblivion or tear her throat out with her teeth.

Katy stepped forward, until she and Aurora were inches apart.

"Don't call me that." Her voice was low, flat, dead serious.

Aurora's smirk only widened.

Carly stood frozen between them, no idea what to say or do, and painfully aware that nobody else in the room had even noticed.

Where is Niko.

She needed him. This was not a situation she had budgeted for tonight.

Katy looked Aurora up and down one more time, then exhaled and stepped back like the fight had simply gone out of her.

"You're not even worth it, and I'm not drunk enough for this conversation." She said. "I'm getting another drink. Hold down the skank fort till I get back, McPherson."

And then she was gone, leaving Carly stranded with the absolute last person she wanted to be stranded with.

Silence stretched between them.

"Well." Aurora said eventually. "That was dramatic, don't you think?"

Maybe I'm not drunk enough for this either.

Carly took a long sip from her empty cup, buying herself a second to not answer.

"Look, Carly, I know you have no reason to trust me." Aurora said. "But what me and Nik had is very much in the past. We're friends."

Carly lowered the cup slowly.

"Very good friends, actually." Something almost wistful slipped into Aurora's voice on that. "Five years of friendship doesn't need to disappear just because you and I aren't fond of each other. And honestly, I care about him too much to make him choose between the people in his life."

"Of course I care about him." Carly said, defensive before she could stop herself. "I just don't know if I trust you. No offense."

"None taken." Aurora said easily. "If some girl had a thing with my boyfriend and was still hanging around, I'd be on guard too."

This is weird. This is so weird, right?

"You don't have to worry, though." Aurora continued. "What happened in the cafeteria was shock, plain and simple. You'd have reacted the same way in my position. If this is the path Nik wants, I'll support it. No strings."

Carly didn't know whether to feel relieved or suspicious. Was this real? Did Aurora actually approve, or care to? Not that her approval was required, but one less enemy in this particular war would not have been unwelcome.

"Maybe we should get a drink first." Aurora said, tilting her head. "I think we're both too sober for this conversation. And it'll drive Nik absolutely mad watching us talk."

Carly glanced across the room.

Niko was watching them with a frown carved deep into his forehead, a bottle of bourbon gripped so tightly in his fist she half expected it to shatter.

It was, despite everything, kind of adorable.

She turned back to Aurora.

"If making Niko squirm was the plan all along, you should've led with that." She said.

Aurora laughed, genuinely this time, and looped her arm through Carly's.

This could be good, Carly told herself. This could actually be good.

She gave Niko a reassuring smile as Aurora pulled her toward the kitchen.

POV: Niko

He watched them disappear from view, his grip on the bourbon bottle cracking the glass without breaking it.

Aurora trying to play nice with his girlfriend should have felt like relief. It felt like the opposite.

What is she planning.

He knew Aurora. Knew exactly how manipulative and cruel she could be when she wanted something, and he knew how badly she had taken the news about him and Carly. Friendly wasn't her first instinct. It had never been her first instinct about anything.

He understood why he'd ever gotten involved with her in the first place, even if he didn't love the reason. Aurora understood a part of him nobody else did — a part he'd spent most of his life trying to keep buried, a part he desperately wanted to stay buried now that he had Carly. But you couldn't outrun your own history just by wanting to, and watching Aurora cozy up to his girlfriend made him feel like he might break out in actual hives.

The guilt sitting in his chest was its own kind of punishment.

Mauricio was saying something to him. He had no idea what. His attention was locked across the room on the blonde and the redhead, laughing together now like they hadn't been at each other's throats half an hour ago.

He wasn't sure if the unease twisting in his gut was protectiveness over Carly, or something closer to dread about his own past finally catching up to him.

Author's Note:

Katy's reaction to that name is still hanging over everything and I am dying to know what it actually means. And Niko's bourbon bottle nearly shattering while Carly and Aurora link arms — the most dangerous truce of the semester.